


fingers crossed

by lotts (LottieAnna)



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Crushes, Fluff, Friendship, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-30 02:00:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13940163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LottieAnna/pseuds/lotts
Summary: “This is terrible,” Travis says. “I’m feeling things, Law. I’m feelingfeelings.”





	fingers crossed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dannybsdadbod](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dannybsdadbod/gifts).



> IF YOU FOUND THIS THROUGH GOOGLING, KNOW ANYONE MENTIONED IN THIS STORY PERSONALLY, OR ARE MENTIONED YOURSELF: please, please click away. This is a work of fiction and nothing written in this story is true. Any accurate information used in this story is publicly available information about public figures, the rest is made up, 100%.
> 
> thanks to ang for beta-ing this. a gift for julia, my favorite flyers fan, who deserves to feel loved always. hopefully this bit of fluff can brighten your day!

It takes TK an embarrassingly long time to realize he likes Nolan, but in his defense, feelings are confusing, and weird, and it’s hard to tell the difference between friend-like and  _ like- _ like, okay? 

Lawson just laughs at him, which, rude, he’s supposed to be the nice one in this friendship. 

“You haven’t stopped talking about him for  _ months,  _ Trav,” Lawson says. 

“Okay, well, fuck you,” Travis says, and he can practically hear Lawson smiling all the way in fucking Tucson. “I don’t know, he’s my best friend on the team—”

“You switched rooms to spend more time with him,” Lawson says. “Buddy, come  _ on. _ ” 

“Again, fuck you,” Travis says. “Are you gonna be helpful or not?” 

“What do you want me to do about it?” Lawson says. 

“Fucking—help,” Travis says. 

“You’ve gotta be more specific, dude,” Lawson says. “Do you want me to help you plan a first date, or—” 

“Jesus fuck, no,” Travis says. “How do I get over this, I mean?” 

Lawson’s quiet on the other end for a second. “You can’t just—what? This is good.” 

“This is  _ terrible,” _ Travis says. “I’m feeling things, Law. I’m feeling  _ feelings _ .”  

“Yeah, so you can act on those,” Lawson says. 

“You’re useless,” Travis sighs, then hangs up. It’s mostly for effect, because Lawson calls back three seconds later and Travis doesn’t hesitate to answer, but still, he thinks it gets the point across. 

***

There are like, a few blissful hours where Travis thinks things are gonna be okay, but then Nolan’s stupid face gets in the way of that. 

It’s just the two of them, lying in their respective hotel beds, and Travis is already doing better than he expected to—no weak knees, he’s totally got this—except then Nolan makes a noise of frustration. 

“What’s up?” Travis says. 

“I checked my mentions,” Nolan says. 

“Bro,” Travis says, shaking his head. “Why would you ever.” 

“I mean, most of it’s fine, just—it’s stupid, but the shit that really pisses me off is the rosy cheeks crap.” 

“Oh,” Travis says, and then, before he can stop himself, “I’ll beat them up.” 

“Who?” 

“Everyone,” Travis says simply, which earns him a laugh, and it’s incredible, for a second, until it starts to be just, like, a little bit agonizing. 

“I appreciate it, man,” Nolan says, and that’s when Travis realizes that he’s truly fucked, because he doesn’t want to look away from the way Nolan’s eyes are kind of twinkling in the aftermath of his smile. 

“No problem,” Travis says, trying his best to sound normal, and he’s not sure he quite manages it, but at least Nolan doesn’t notice. 

***

One of the perks of having a best friend who’s leagues more in tune with his emotions: Travis feels comfortable drafting texts to Lawson about all the Nolan Patrick and romance bullshit that’s swirling inside his head. 

He doesn’t send them, obviously, because the only thing worse than having feelings is having proof of those feelings, in writing, but he’ll type them out and delete them pretty regularly. It feels marginally less pathetic than a note on his phone, at least. 

_ his hair is so long it’s gross but i want to run my hands thru it wtf is wrong with me,  _ he writes, when Nolan comes out of the shower and towels off his hair,and Travis can only suffer silently while pretending to complain about Nolan using all the towels. 

_ his legs,  _ he ducks out of the locker room to write, one particularly rough day after practice.

_ not to be dramatic but his laugh is so beautiful and deep i want to bottle it up and wear it on a chain so it can hang next to my heart,  _ he writes, first thing one morning, because it’s early and his heart is more awake than his brain, apparently. 

It’s a fairly good coping mechanism, he thinks, and he’s honestly proud of it, and it’s not really doing much to help him actually move past these dumb feelings, but it makes the day-to-day easier, so. Baby steps, he figures. 

***

The reason he drafts the texts to Lawson and not anyone else is, of course, because when he inevitably ends up hitting ‘send’ on one of them, he’d rather Lawson be the only one to see that. 

It’s not that bad when it happens; it could certainly be worse, and like, it’s Lawson, who has so many feelings that he really is in no position to judge, so he doesn’t. 

_ i want to kiss his jawline???  _ is what ends up accidentally being sent, and Travis stares as it goes from delivered to read, then answers when Lawson calls. 

“Are you still on this Patty bullshit?” Lawson says, without preamble. 

“I didn’t choose this life,” Travis says. “It just kind of happened.” 

“Yeah, no shit, but you’re still not doing anything about it?” Lawson says. “I know you’re stubborn, Trav, but I didn’t think you’d be stupid about this.” 

“Hey,” Travis says, a little offended. “What am I supposed to do?” 

“Just ask him out,” Lawson says. 

“It’s not easy!” Travis protests. “It takes time—” 

“Yeah, but if you’re sending me pining texts, you’re probably not actually in the planning stage yet,” Lawson says. Travis needs friends who don’t know him so well, probably. 

“Fine, maybe I’m not,” Travis says. “And maybe I won’t, ever.”

“Jesus, you pick fights with guys twice your size, but you choose this to be a coward about?” Lawson says, and like—

Travis’ first reaction is to be pissed, because he Does Not Appreciate having his height brought up, and he appreciates being called a coward even less—especially by Lawson ‘needs a minimum of five teddy bears to sleep’ Crouse—but then he realizes that Lawson is totally trying to bait him into acting on his feelings. 

And he’s about to call Lawson out on it, even though it’s a pretty genius move, but Nolan chooses that moment to walk in. 

“Fuck you,” Travis says, suddenly fired up, and then he puts the phone to his chest. “Yo, Patty, you have plans tonight?” 

Nolan looks up. “No?” 

Travis flashes him a smile. “Go out with me.” 

“What?” Nolan says, looking confused. 

“Let me buy you dinner,” Travis says. “I’ll make it worth your time, I promise.” 

“Oh,” Nolan says. “Uh—yeah, sure, okay.” 

“Sweet,” Travis says, and then he picks up the phone. “I’ve gotta go.” 

“You’re welcome,” Lawson says, barely containing his laughter. 

Travis really, really needs friends who don’t know him so well. 

Nolan’s still staring at Travis as he hangs up, and slowly, Travis starts to feel awkward again, now that the momentum is wearing off. 

“So,” Travis says, trying to fake the confidence from before. “Where do you want to go?” 

Nolan doesn’t answer. “What was that about, Teeks?” 

“I was asking you out,” Travis says, blushing a little. “On a date, I mean.” 

“Why?” Nolan asks. 

“I mean, because I—y’know,” Travis says. “I’ve wanted to.” 

“So you weren’t just, like, dared to?” Nolan asks. 

“What? No,” Travis says. “I was just—it felt kind of, like, now or never, y’know?” 

“Why?” 

“Because I—feelings are weird, I don’t like talking about them, you’re hot, whatever,” Travis says. “Is that okay?” 

“That you think I’m hot? Yeah,” Nolan says. “Yeah, just—feelings?” 

“Feelings,” Travis confirms. “I mean, they’re gross, but—” he shrugs, like,  _ what can you do.  _

“For real,” Nolan says, and then he smiles, and Travis doesn’t even bother to deny the fact that there are butterflies in his stomach. “Alright, well. I’m into it.” 

“Good,” Travis says, and it’s weird, because it definitely feels awful, the things his stomach is doing about Nolan’s smile, but it’s also—kinda nice, and not just because Nolan’s smiling. 

Like, Travis  _ feels  _ nice, and it’s not unrelated to the awfulness, and it doesn’t make much sense, but— 

Whatever. It’s a lot, but it’s a lot of a good thing, and he’s got a date with Nolan tonight, so he’s not gonna question it. 

***

“Okay, I get it,” Travis says to Lawson, a month and a half into dating Nolan. “Feelings aren’t awful.” 

“I’m glad you came around eventually,” Lawson says. 

Travis hears a knock on his door, which is probably Nolan, who’s his usual five minutes late for movie night, and will probably apologize as soon as he sets foot in the apartment. 

“Yeah, me too,” Travis says, standing up to open the door. He should probably get Nolan a key, one of these days. “Speaking of, I’ve got a date tonight.” 

“Have fun,” Lawson says, kind of sing-song and Travis smiles fondly as he hangs up, and if his stomach still flips when he sees Nolan on the other side of the door, smiling all apologetic, he probably can’t be blamed. 

**Author's Note:**

> ETA: taking this off anon! 
> 
> "since when do you write about the flyers lotts" okay first off tk has never been anything less than perfect, so you can jot that down. secondly, i love julia a lot, and loving her means i love the flyers at least a little bit by osmosis. thirdly, [this article](http://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/flyers/kids-will-be-kids-and-flyers-love-it) happened. 
> 
> I'm lottswrites on tumblr and lottslottslotts on twitter!


End file.
